The present invention relates to a method for changing a booting configuration to change a disk that a server uses for booting.
Generally, a server boots an OS installed in a built-in disk drive. However, as a demand for disk capacity from the server increases and the remaining capacity of the disk drive becomes small, it is necessary to change the disk drive incorporated in the server. Further, since a backup of the disk drive needs to be done by starting backup software by each server, it takes time. As the number of servers increases, the amount of work in replacing many server disk drives and in backing them up becomes inhibitively large.
There is a configuration in which a server boots an OS by using a disk in an external disk drive through a network. In this configuration, when the remaining disk capacity is running low, disks can easily be added to the external disk drive, completing the disk extension work easily. Further, since a copy can be made among a plurality of disks in the external disk drive, the backup can be done without the server having to start the software. In a computer system in which a plurality of servers boot from disks in an external disk drive, since the single external disk drive can incorporate the disks used by all servers, installation of additional disks and disk backup can be performed on one external disk drive, which in turn reduces the additional time and labor required when the number of servers increases. Further, in this configuration since it is possible to access a plurality of servers in the computer system via network and network switch, the boot disk of a particular server connected to the external disk drive can be referenced by another server. Therefore, in the event of a failure in the operating server, this configuration allows the active service to be taken over by another server by using the boot disk of the failed server. This is described in the preceding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/033,724 filed by the same inventor of this application.